Hello dear Barbell Medicine Team,
I am reaching the end of the hypertrophy 1 template and after listening to your latest Podcast about cardio I‘ve been wondering how to incorporate more cardio into my week. As per program I‘m already exercising 5x per week on my Rogue Bike and with two children, full time job etc. I really can‘t go for a run or add swimming or so. I could perhaps exercise for 10-15mins longer when I‘m on the Airbike anyway though. Could you perhaps guide me how to add mins to the program? Would be very much appreciated. You could also recommend me a new program to run after but I‘d like to repeat Hypertrophy 1 actually. I‘m enjoying the amount of cardio but also the increase in muscle and strength.
Thanks for everything!
Wladi
Howdy,
I think adding 10 to 15 minutes (or really any time) on the Airbike is a perfectly fine way to do it. Tack it onto the end of your lifting sessions, or put it on a non-lifting day if you’d rather keep the two separate. I think you’re fine to add ~ 1-2 sessions of + 15 minutes every two weeks, rather than adding 15 minutes on all 5 training days.
The one thing I’d hold you to is keeping those extra minutes pretty easy (Zones 1 and 2). You’re already getting a solid amount of conditioning through Hypertrophy I, so the added work is best accumulated at a moderate pace, i.e. one that’s ~ 60-80% of max heart rate, where you can speak in short sentences. Once you’re past roughly 500- MET-minutes a week, which the program already has you at, I think high intensity work isn’t really worth the effort unless there’s a specific race or sport you’re preparing for. If you were short on total cardio time I’d steer you toward some harder intervals to make it efficient, but that isn’t your situation.
Repeating Hypertrophy I is completely fine, especially since you’re still gaining and enjoying it. If you wanted to move up to Hypertrophy II or Bodybuilding I, either would be a reasonable, because they both increase training load slightly and can accept the same strategy for added conditioning.
-Jordan
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Thanks for your reply! Don‘t get me wrong, I‘m not itching to increase my time on the bike - it seems to me you’re saying that I could also consider the programmed volume as „enough“ and be content with that. I just thought that I was barely scraping above the minimum and should add almost double the volume.
The conditioning programmed in Hypertrophy I and II exceed the minimum guidelines for conditioning. However, I think most people would benefit (health-wise) from doing more, as doing more would increase their cardiorespiratory fitness more.
If you have the time, and aren’t prioritizing muscle and strength gain above all else right now (a fine goal for stretches of time btw), then I’d consider doing more time on the bike 
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